Yale College Council
Council of Representatives Meeting
Sunday, October 16, 2016
1PM | Phelps 207
Mini Agenda
- Call to Action/Attendance
- New Business
- Communications Director - Rebecca Yan
- Yale Daily News Policy - Rebecca Yan
- New Ideas Fund - Nick Zevallos
- Associate Representative Petitions
- Yale Society Initiative - Danny Avraham
- Committee to Establish Principles on Renaming - Daniel Hamidi and Tobias Holden
- Events and Announcements
Minutes
Communications:
●Rebecca:
○Standardize look of reports and other materials going out to the general audience
○Think about visualizing your report; representatives should think about what their reports look like
○Photo Team: Yale Speaks - similar to Humans of New York
○Programming Team: Think about revamping the website
○Social Media: Push to increase likes on Facebook page; think about creating a Snapchat
○YDN Pitching: any ideas from representatives should be emailed to Christopher and Rebecca, who will consolidate all the ideas; any interview information passed to YDN should be reviewed by Christopher and Rebecca for accuracy
○YDN Policy:
■representatives only speak on your project and what you are familiar with, notify Directors
■in the case of breaking events do not speak as a member of YCC if YCC has not released an official statement, but can speak as an individual
■unless notified by Executive Board members that Brittany is contacting you, play on the safe side and direct her to a policy direct and Christopher and Rebecca first
○Bennett: Can representative say yes I am a member of YCC but I am saying this as a personal opinion?
■Rebecca: Yes, as long as it is not a story specifically about YCC and as long as it is more of a story about general campus policy and stories
■Christopher: We want to be on the same page
●New Ideas Initiative (NII)
○Nick: Wording for NII is up for council approval, application to be on the review committee for NII; applicants for the first round will get preliminary approval but will need to meet with the review committee with comprehensive logistical planning for the initiative to proceed
○Nick: speaking with Carlos and other members to develop the idea
○Sydney: Is YCC’s name going to be on it?
■Nick: we are going to sponsor it
○Christopher: Are funds set aside only for specific demographics?
■Nick: No, but we are going to reach out to specific demographics to encourage them to apply
○Kate: Do people who apply on panel get to shape what NII looks like
■Nick: yes, the review committee will have hand in shaping for the committee
○Sydney: Application for the review committee open to whom? Application to NII open to whom?
■Nick: Representatives and associates can apply to the review committee, any Yale student or student group can apply to NII
○Christopher: voting on the wording will be sent out in electronic poll
●Associates
○Joseph voted in to be an associate
○Saloni voted in to be an associate
●First Generation Low Income
○Christopher: will send out an electronic poll
●Senior Societies
○Danny: provide more context on senior societies, the role of societies on campus and what can be done to improve the system, curious to know current understanding of societies
○Fernando: once you get to junior year, friend group has solidified through majors and classes, societies help create environment for new friendships
○Diksha: a lot of societies meet Thursday and Sunday nights, three to five hours each night; a lot of them place emphasis on getting to know a lot of people in the group
○Danny: up until 60s the societies were even more secret than they are now, allow people to share secrets, in 2000s there entered 40 societies and became much more public; around 600 folks in societies and 700 folks who were not; some people did not care but some people feel left out; whether students liked the group or not they went because they felt a form of social pressure
○Danny: unfortunately a lot of senior society interviews involve hazing, and some groups abuse the power dynamic on occasion; students did not want to miss out on society experience; but pressure point; what part of Yale experience is within our control
○Danny: Pre-tap and Tap, a lot of running around allowing rising seniors to shop around, a lot of people who wanted to be in societies but not enough room for everyone; old ones have buildings and increased resources; core of societies of spending time with people they may not have met before and core experiences can be replicated
○Danny: send out Google Form and have people sign up and then drop them in different groups; reached out to contacts and established a modest fund; 200 juniors sign up and assorted into 7 new societies; YSI made core experience of society available to everyone, reform recruitment process to align juniors and their personalities with the right societies
○Danny: YSI is umbrella organization that houses different societies, comes together and send out form to juniors who want to sign up, provide society with some structural support because there is always more demand than supply
○Danny’s information will be provided
●Endorsing Blue Collar Representation
○Tobias: continuous national conversation on the power of names; renaming committee
○Daniel: Ms. Shirley Lawrence from the Davenport Dining Hall has emailed President Salovey to ask about Blue Collar representation but has not heard back; names of buildings affect all members of our community; renaming decisions can deeply impact workers’ experiences and well-being while working at Yale
○Tobias: Staff live in the City of New Haven and are an important part of our campus; most students on campus do not know the names of the staff even though the staff are a huge part of our community
○Daniel: support from 700+ students and also student groups
○Tobias: Blue Collar Representation and YCC - student government can engage in this conversation on inclusiveness, support students by supporting the people who support the students
○Matt: What parts of Yale are represented on the committee?
■Tobias: Witt, Gage, Holloway, other professors, Graduate Student, Undergraduate Student; put experts on race relations but what about blue collar workers
○Tobias: Ms. Shirley Lawrence has been committed to Yale
○Diksha: should not erase the perspective of Blue Collar workers
○Daniel: what can we do to help support Blue Collar workers?
■Tobias: help share the petition link with more undergraduates
○Nick: what are the next steps
■Daniel: there are next steps
■Tobias: what does it mean to get one person on one committee, but important to continue the conversation on how to give representation to Blue Collar Collars; what does it mean to support underrepresented groups
■Christopher: our name is going to be associated, so what are the next steps?
●Tobias: name is only going on the petition and any additional steps will not be associated with YCC if it does not want to be associated to it
■Steven: What happens if administrators do not listen to the workers?
●Daniel: we are the messengers and we are going to translate their vision
■Fernando: What about Pitti and other members who seem responsive
●Daniel: have reached out and provided petition to other members of CEPR
■Tobias and Daniel open to questions
○Christopher will send a follow up email with votes from the meeting
○Peter will send an email about YULA updates
"Don’t find fault; find a remedy." - Henry Ford